turn to
Britishverb
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Begin work, apply oneself to, as in Next he turned to cutting wood for the fire . This usage was first recorded in 1667.
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Refer to, consult, as in She turned to the help-wanted ads . This usage was first recorded in 1631.
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Appeal to, apply to for help, as in At a time like this one turns to one's closest friends , or We'll have to turn to the French consulate for more information . This usage was first recorded in 1821. Also see turn to good account .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As I turned to flee, my eyes scanned across the signed John Irving novels I had fastidiously collected since I fell in love with his writing as a young man, starting with “Garp.”
From Los Angeles Times
On Reddit, many people have been turning to the subreddit r/flu to share their experiences and seek answers, commenting on the extreme fatigue and long recovery time.
From Salon
Even cooking will be complicated, as some residents have turned to petroleum-run stoves to cook their food.
As rain then spreads northward across England and Wales, it meets the colder Artic air we have had in place over the past week, resulting in the rain turning to snow by Thursday evening.
From BBC
As shipments from Mexico and Venezuela into the U.S. declined, refiners turned to Canada, which has ramped up heavy crude production from its oil sands.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
